Thayer, John, 1758-1815

John Thayer was born on May 15, 1758 in Boston, Massachusetts to Cornelius and Sarah (Plaisted) Thayer. Thayer was a Protestant in his early life, graduated from Yale University, and was educated as a Congregational minister. He served as a chaplain during the American Revolutionary War in John Hancock's military company. While visiting Rome in 1783, he investigated accounts of the miraculous cures of Saint Joseph Benedict Labre and consequently converted to Catholicism. Thayer studied for the priesthood at the Seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris, where he was ordained in 1787. Upon his return to Boston, he established a small chapel on School Street, primarily for French Catholics. Around 1799, he traveled to Kentucky as a missionary and made a name for himself as a Catholic voice against slavery. In 1803, he returned to Europe and settled in Limerick, Ireland. He died there on February 5, 1815.